


Keep Your Eyes on Me

by PagetPaulson



Category: Criminal Minds
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-03
Updated: 2017-04-15
Packaged: 2018-04-24 13:02:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 16
Words: 18,370
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4920649
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PagetPaulson/pseuds/PagetPaulson
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>They met in the rain.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

She couldn't hail a taxi on a regular day, but this was just ridiculous. It was five in the evening and pouring rain, her umbrella almost bearing down on her head as she was pushed to the edge of the curb because od the mass amount of people on the city street. "Taxi!"

The brunette rolled her eyes as another cab sped by her.

Emily hadn't had the best day; in fact it had been the worst day she'd had in years. The brunette woman had been late to work because of a pile up on fifth avenue, and her dog had chewed up the heels she had chosen to wear. Once at her office, she had received a menacing call from her mother to tell her she needed to force her brother into coming to their monthly dinner; the ambassador refused to talk to her son herself until he apologized for his outburst at their last function.

And just when she thought she could get some peace and do the work that was piled on her desk, the ambassador's daughter was called into her boss' office and reprimanded for getting "the best lawyer Goodman and Willson had ever had" fired because she had reported him for sexual harassment.

Everything was pretty much going to shit.

Taking in a breath, Emily stepped off the sidewalk, her hand raised in the air so she could draw the attention of a taxi driver. "Taxi!"

An older man glanced in the direction of the brunette as he waited for the light to change, and he watched as her heel slipped off the curb drowning in water. "Miss!"

Emily's eyes bugged as she felt herself falling backward, her heart jumping into her throat and umbrella falling from her hand as her high heel snapped and her skin brushed the curb.

Looking up, the brown eyed woman met the stare of the man who had caught her, the worry on his face striking a chord in her heart.

"Are you alright?"

Emily let him help her stand, her hair starting to soak as she picked up her umbrella that had slipped from her hand. "Yes," she breathed, her heart pounding so hard that it hurt against her breastbone.

He noticed the tears in her eyes. "Bad day?"

"Worse than you could imagine."

The dark eyed man stepped closer, their voices loud so they could hear one another over the rain. "I bet I'll top yours."

Emily looked up to him, their umbrellas touching.

"I buried my ex-wife today," he sighed, his gaze catching his breath in the air. "Her grave was flooded, everyone wanted to leave early because of the cold and my son decided to go home with his cousins instead of with me."

The ambassador's daughter's eyes softened on the older man, and she gently nodded her head. "Ok, you win."

He smiled, offering her his hand. "Aaron."

"Emily." She dropped his hand, feeling herself start to perspire, despite the wind, as he smiled to her. "Thank you, by the way. Did I say that already?"

"No," he chuckled.

The lawyer gave him a nervous smile. "Well thank you." She nodded her head to him before turning around, limping out on her broken heel not an inch before a cab came speeding at her.

He watched as she was hit and fell to the wet floor, and his heart stopped. "Emily!" Running off the sidewalk and into the road, throwing his umbrella behind him for the second time to help her. "Emily, can you hear me?"

His hands cupped the unconscious woman's face, his skin quickly covered in her blood. "Help!" Aaron looked up to see a group of people crowding them, strangers running from the sidewalk and jumping out of their cars to see what happened. "We need an ambulance!"

An older man knelt down beside the pair and put a hand to Aaron's shoulder. "I'm a doctor, son. What happened?"

"She was hit," he breathed, turning around and banging his hands on the cab that had run her down. "She was hit by this fucking moron!"

The doctor looked up to see the cab driver sprinting away. "We called an ambulance."

Aaron gulped, watching as the white haired man tried to check the bloodied woman for a pulse. "Is she dead?"

"No son," the doctor chuckled happily, taking his handkerchief and applying pressure to the gash in Emily's head. "Your wife is a strong one. I feel her pulse strong in her neck." Reaching behind him to the man in shock, the white haired man nodded. "You keep pressure on her head wound, alright? I'm going to lift her by her neck and see if it's fractured."

The single father immediately set his hand to the handkerchief. "You'll be ok," he whispered as he leaned down, finding her pule for himself with his free hand.

He breathed.

Hearing the sirens and the honks of the ambulance's horn, Aaron looked up to the doctor. "Is she ok?"

"Her neck seems just fine," he nodded. "I'm sure she'll be just fine, son."

Aaron watched the paramedics run to them from the ambulance on the end of the street, the vehicle not able to move through the traffic fast enough. "Over here!"

"Sir what's going on?"

He noticed they were struggling with the stretcher, and taking all of her weight on his arms, Aaron lifted the lawyer into his arms and cradled her delicate body against his chest. "She was hit by a car."

The first EMT opened up the stretcher and let the brunette man set her down. "Neck brace!"

Aaron stood back and watched as they got her situated, and he turned to thank the older man who had stopped to help them.

But he was gone.

"Hurts."

Aaron's head spun around, his eyes wide when he saw the beautiful woman with her hair caked in blood reaching up to the brace around her neck. "Emily," he breathed, quickly grabbing onto her hand to stop her from interfering with what the paramedics were trying to do. "Thank God, you're ok."

The brunette tried her best to open her mouth, but her jaw was in pain.

"Sir, we're taking your wife. Would you like to come in the back of the ambulance?"

Aaron didn't even think before nodding in agreement. "Emily?" He smiled to her when she let her confused eyes travel over to him, his hand holding tight onto hers as they climbed into the back of the roaring vehicle. "I think you win," he joked, his chest aching when her eyes closed and they strapped an oxygen mask over her mouth and nose.

Shittiest day ever.


	2. Chapter 2

She couldn't lift her head.

Opening her eyes, the brunette woman's jaw dropped at the immediate pain shooting through her head. What happened to her?

"Mrs. Hotchner?"

Emily's eyes flickered over to the door, squinting to try and fix the blurriness. "Hello?"

The doctor walked in and smiled softly to the injured woman. "I apologize Mrs. Hotchner, but your husband is in your bathroom. Poor man has been sitting here with your for almost five hours," he laughed. "Can you tell me what happened?"

The brunette woman gulped. Husband? "No."

"I'm Dr. Fey," the blue eyed man smiled, his hands tight on his clipboard. "I was the main surgeon in your operation."

Emily's jaw dropped. "I had to have surgery?" Was that why should couldn't lift her head?

Walking back into the room with his hands shaking off the water still there, Aaron looked over to the hospital bed where the woman he had met that day had been sleeping. "Emily?" He rushed over to her when he noticed the doctor trying to calm her down, the single father gripping the lawyer's hand. "Emily can you hear me?"

She was having a panic attack.

The doctor rushed to hit the nurse's button, his eyes shooting over to the door when she finally popped in. "I need a tranquilizer stat."

Aaron worried for the younger woman. "Emily?" He tightened his hand around hers and felt her squeeze back, his eyes on her chest as it seemed to almost break free of her gown with how heavily she was breathing. "Emily, look at me."

She could hear something, a low voice just outside of the swishing and swirling static she heard buzzing in her ears.

"Emily?"

Her head spinning, the brunette woman in the hospital bed met the eyes of the man who had saved her life. "Aaron?" She couldn't even hear herself speak, her heartbeat pounding in her ears as she felt Aaron rub a hand down her arm.

"Emily it's alright, ok? Keep squeezing my hand."

She arched her neck as her breathing became strained, never noticing the two nurses coming into her room.

Aaron held her down as gently as he could, his eyes stinging when she whimpered at the needle sticking into her skin. "It's ok," he soothed, leaning in and gently quieting her with his whispers. "You're ok."

Emily gasped as she felt her heartbeat immediately calm, her shaking arms starting to cease and the blurriness in her eyes cleared. "Aaron?" Her head turned, working her jaw to try and rid her dry mouth. "What happened?"

Dr. Fey eyed the pair from behind his glasses, writing a quick note down on his clipboard as Aaron wiped the sweat from the now tired woman's forehead. "Mrs. Hotchner, you suffered a subdural hematoma due to your fall which was the reason for the surgery. You also have three cracked ribs and a sprained wrist, alright? We're going to have to keep you for a few weeks."

The brunette barely nodded her head in reply to the doctor, waiting until he and the nurses walked out with a promise to return in an hour before she turned to look at the man by her side. "My head hurts."

"I know it must," Aaron sighed, his thumb gently tracing the small creases in her forehead.

Emily sniffled, wincing as the action made her head twinge. "Shittiest day ever, huh?"

The raspy voice of the younger brunette made the single father grin. "Pretty much."

Turning her head, the lawyer looked up to the man who had sat by her bedside well into the night and bit her lip. "Mrs. Hotchner?" she questioned, her brow arching slightly when she saw him blush. "Can I take a gander that that's your last name?"

"Of course," he chuckled lightly. "I didn't know your last name and I had to fill out some paper work to stay back here with you so I guess they just assumed."

Emily felt his hand tighten just slightly around hers, and she shook her head. "You didn't have to stay with me." What kind of a stranger stays with a woman he had barely met after such a tragedy?

A gentleman.

"I didn't know your last name or your emergency contact," he shrugged. "Your purse was left at the scene. I didn't want to leave you here alone."

Emily's eyes stung with tears, and she let him readjust her bed sheet. "That's very sweet, Aaron." She bit her lip. "Aaron Hotchner."

The older man could see the laughter bubbling up in the tired woman and he returned her grin. "And may I get your last name, Emily?" If he was going to stay with her for the rest of the night, or what was left of it, he was going to want to know just a bit more about her.

"Prentiss," she whispered, her eyes fluttering closed before she could notice the surprise on Aaron's face.


	3. Chapter 3

"Mr. Hotchner?"

The man who had watched the injured brunette in the hospital bed fall back to sleep, his wide eyes glued to Emily once he had found out who she really was, shook his head. "Yes?"

Dr. Fey walked in and frowned. "Sir, are you alright?"

Aaron jerkily nodded his head, his hand never leaving Emily's.

"May I speak to your for a moment?"

Giving a quick squeeze to the injured brunette's hand, Aaron got himself up and followed the doctor outside the hospital room. "What is it? Is something wrong?"

"Your wife gave us quite a scare with her anxiety attack," the older man admitted to him, his glasses falling to the tip of his nose as he read what he had written on his clipboard. "We're going to have to keep her for one week longer than we were originally planning, and we will have a nurse right outside her room during all hours. If she has another attack and does anything to prevent her recovery."

The single father's eyes widened, hands on his hips. "Like what?"

Dr. Fey shrugged. "Move her head too much, sit up to quickly to injure her ribs further, possibly yank out her IV whether she means to or not. We have a lot of things to look out for."

Aaron gave a stiff nod of the head. "Is there anything else?"

"No Mr. Hotchner, that's all for now." Looking at his watch, the doctor huffed. "It's about three in the morning now. Are you sure I can't get you a cot to sleep on?"

"I'm fine, thank you." Waiting until the grey haired man walked away, Aaron pulled out his phone and quickly dialed his father.

"Aaron," the happy man greeted, his phone between his ear and his shoulder as he yanked on his hiking boots. "You're lucky it's my fishing day," he laughed. "I just got up."

The single father put a hand to his head. "Dad."

Robert Hotchner frowned, hearing the distress in his son's voice. "What is it, Aaron?"

Slowly blinking away the sleep from her eyes, Emily stretched her arms out beside her, wincing at the pain in her right wrist because of her sprain.'

"Hey there, sleepy head."

The lawyer was careful not to move her head too quickly as she looked over to see Aaron still sitting in the plastic chair beside her bed. "Aaron," she whispered sleepily, her brows furrowing as she did her best not to yawn. "You're still here."

Aaron gave her a small smile.

"You have a son," she stated, shaking her head and doing her best to sit herself up in her bed. "And you probably have a job. You don't need to stay here."

"I beg to differ." Aaron put a hand to the younger woman's arm before taking the remote that controlled the bed and pressing the button to lift her body.

Emily smiled shyly to the older man. "Thank you."

He sat with his elbows on his knees and clasped his hands. "So I have something to tell you," he nodded, watching as her brows raised. "I made a call."

The lawyer frowned. "Ok." What did that have to do with her?

"I found out that I have connections with your family." He watched as her eyes widened, and he gave an affirmative nod of the head. "My father worked for your mother's security team back in '84, and so I had him call your parents to tell them about what happened."

Emily shook her head to get the shock out of her system. "You did what?"

Aaron slid his chair forward and sat his elbows on the edge of her bed. "I hoped you'd be alright with that."

"My mother?" she snorted, forcing herself not to wince when it strained her head. "The only thing that your phone call probably did was piss her off. Now I can't make her to the family function next Friday and God knows when she'll talk to me again." Smirking, the tired woman looked back over to the older man. "You know what, thank you."

Aaron gave a snort of his own. "Is the ambassador really that bad?"

"You have no idea." Letting her grin dim down into a gentle smile, Emily nodded to the man who had saved her life. "I didn't know our families had such close ties."

"Me neither. Not until you told me your last name."

Nodding slowly, the injured woman reached over and grasped the single father's hand. "Well then I sure am glad you're the one who saved me," the lawyer joked. All of a sudden, her smile faded. "I didn't thank you this time either, did I?" Emily bit her lip and forced herself not to laugh. "I really have to get better at that."

"Em?"

Both brunettes turned to look over to the door. "Dave," she breathed, watching her brother almost lose his head as he ran to her. "What are you doing here?"

"What the hell do you mean what am I doing here?" Her older brother shed his jacket and leaned over the bars of her bed to give her a gentle hug. "I came as soon as dad called me. Him and mom are still over in Belgium so they can't be here until Wednesday."

Emily huffed, laying back against her pillow. "Good old mom and dad."

Looking up, Dave offered the other man in the room a hand. "David Prentiss," he nodded, shaking Aaron's hand. "You must be Aaron Hotchner. Your dad worked for our family a few years back."

"More than a few," Aaron laughed.

The older brunette man nodded, smiling as he gripped his sister's hand. "Thank you so much for saving her." Glancing down to the other Prentiss, Dave made a face. "She seems to get herself into trouble more than you'd think."

"Hey," Emily scolded, slapping at her brother with her good hand.

Watching the interaction, the single father slowly slid his chair back against the wall and slipped his phone from his pocket. "I have to go and pick up my son from his aunt's house," he lied, nodding to the siblings as he slipped on his suit jacket. "You take care of her. We don't need another broken bone from her trying to get up to use the bathroom."

The woman in the bed scowled at the two men laughing, but softened her gaze when she saw her savior making his way out the door. "Thank you," she piped up, her eyes meeting his when he turned back to look at her. "Thank you so much."

Aaron gave the younger woman a small nod and a smile, walking out of the room before he lost his nerve.


	4. Chapter 4

Frowning at the older man at her bed side, Emily kept her lips sealed shut.

"Emily," her brother groaned, keeping the cup of water near her unwilling lips. "You need some water." He knew her throat was dry, he could hear it in her voice, and she refused to let him give it to her.

The injured woman glared, leaning back against her pillow and crossing her arms. "Let me have it."

"Let me do it for you."

"Dave," she growled, ignoring the strain she felt in her head when she did so. "I'm not an invalid. Give me the damn water."

Her older brother gave the signature narrowed eye their family had perfected over the years, his lips twitching in disapproval as his sister continued to act up. "Are you twelve? Did the car crash cause you to revert back to your insanely annoying teen years?"

Emily's eyes dulled at the mention of the accident, and she played with the edge of her bed sheet to distract herself.

"Em?" the other Prentiss child probed, inching his chair closer to the hospital bed. "Talk to me."

The brunette looked up to her brother and gnawed into her bottom lip. "Do I look bad?" she whispered, almost to herself. With everything the doctor said had happened to her, and she hadn't been able to shower, she had a feeling she looked like death.

Emily shuddered at the thought. She was lucky she wasn't dead.

Dave set the water down and gripped the one of the bars that kept his sister safe in her bed. "You look beautiful," he grinned, watching as she rolled her eyes. "Remember when you went through that goth phase? Two fucking years," the older man chuckled. "You look so much better now than you did then."

The brunette's brown eyes watered. "My head really hurts," she husked, letting Dave take her hand. "And I want to go back to sleep."

"So go back to sleep. I'll stay right here the entire time."

Emily grimaced, shaking her head when her tears finally started to fall. "I'm scared."

Dave held tightly onto his sister's hand, reaching forward and wiping the tears from her bruised alabaster skin. He hadn't seen the ambassador's daughter this way since she was fifteen and he drove her to the doctor for her abortion in Rome.

"What if I fall asleep and I can't wake up?" she mused frightenedly, rolling her lips inward when the tears hit that pink skin. "I didn't have a choice when they gave me the medicine by the doctors but now I do and I don't think I want to."

The older Prentiss child shook his sister's hand and gave a small smile. "I think they'll notice if you never close those pretty brown eyes of yours."

Emily huffed, looking away from Dave and taking her hand from his. She fingered the brace on her wrist and pursed her lips, doing her best to keep the rest of the tears she could see blurring her vision from falling.

"What can I do?"

She didn't know how to answer her. All her life, Emily knew what to say and when to say it; she was always the one to comfort those when they needed to know they could get through it. Now she was the one who was questioning her future.

"Emily?"

The ambassador's daughter sniffled, thinking back to the man who had saved her. He had taken her to the hospital - her; a woman he didn't even know - and stayed with her for hours after her life threatening surgery. He left his family, his job and his life to stay with a stranger for hours.

She wanted Aaron Hotchner back by her side.


	5. Chapter 5

Hanging up his cell phone, the single father almost found himself dancing on the side of the busy street sidewalk. His boss had let him off for an entire week to 'take care of a sick loved one' who was in the hospital, which wasn't necessarily untrue. She was sick, and she was in the hospital.

Aaron quickly rounded the corner and felt the sun on his dark head of hair, and he shoved his hand into his jacket pocket to take out his wallet. "One bouquet of tulips, please."

The young redhead grinned at the man fumbling with his cash as she clipped the ends of the flowers' stems. "Lucky lady," she giggled, wrapping up the bouquet. "These are our last tulips." Handing them to the smiling man, the teen shook her head. "On the house."

Aaron frowned. "What do you mean?"

"You look like you're in a hurry."

The single father smiled before handing a twenty to the teen running the flower stand. "Have a good day." He carried the flowers delicately in his hand before getting back in his car and heading toward the hospital.

He didn't want to leave Emily alone.

After helping her and taking her to the hospital, Aaron didn't mind that he sat by her side for hours on end. He didn't even mind that he hadn't eaten while waiting for the brunette woman to wake up.

What he did mind was having to leave her at the hospital.

And now it had been a full day he'd been away from her. It was as if he didn't feel welcome when Emily's brother appeared, and not because all of a sudden her brother was there to care for her instead of him, but because he wasn't family.

Why would he stay?

Turning into the hospital parking lot, Aaron got out of the car and carried the bouquet between his hands. His son had come home that morning but immediately made plans with his best friend down the street to stay over for the next few days, and although Aaron had been upset that the seven year old didn't seem to want to stay with him, he was able to come back to visit his favorite stranger.

"Sir? Can I help you?"

Aaron nodded. "My name is Aaron Hotchner." He gulped. "I'm here to see my wife."

The woman behind the desk grinned up to the single father. "You're Emily's husband! Oh I saw you two come in and you looked just so heart broken," she whispered. "I'm glad she's getting better."

He gave her a grin before heading up to the injured woman's room, taking in a deep breath as he made his way down the hall and stepped into the doorway.

"Work!"

Aaron fought his smile, watching as the brunette in the hospital bed slammed her fingers on the remote in her hand as she tried to get the television to work. He could see the irritation written across her features, her brow scrunched and her dark eyes hard.

She looked beautiful.

"Need some help with that?"

Emily let the remote fall and she huffed, looking up to expect to see another one of the nurses who had barely left her side all day back with another round of medicine.

Aaron showed her a dimple.

"Aaron," the injured woman breathed, her jaw dropping just an inch because that's as far it could go without her muscles tightening up. "Hi."

"May I come in?"

Emily laughed, immediately reaching over to start cleaning the end table her brother had left a mess.

"No, it's fine," he rushed out, hurrying over to the woman he had saved a few days before and took her hands away from the empty cups and wrappers. "Let me do that."

Emily let him put her hands back in her lap as he cleaned up the space, her dark eyes flickering down to see the flowers laying in his lap. Her eyes watered. "Are those for me?" she asked gently, her voice husking as her eyes met his.

Frowning, the single father let the gears in his head oil up again before his eyes widened. "The flowers!" He dropped all the garbage and handed the flowers to the smiling woman. "These are for you," he breathed, his fingers brushings hers as she took them. "It was the least I could do."

"Are you kidding?" she laughed, her eyes filled with tears and her voice thick. "You saved me from having a hemorrhage and you stayed with me for hours while I was unconscious, and now you get me flowers?"

Aaron cursed himself when her injured hand went up to cover her mouth. He didn't want her to cry.

Turning her head, the lawyer let the bouquet lay in her lap so she could lean over the rail of her bed and kiss the older man's cheek. "Thank you so much."

Aaron's eyes met the younger woman's. "You ok?" he questioned, wiping a tear from her cheek. "You look so much better."

Emily huffed, sitting back against her pillow and fingering the petals of the flowers the single father had brought for her. "Are you kidding? I feel like I got run over by a truck."

"Cab; close."

The lawyer snorted. "Wow, thanks," she laughed, hitting her hand against the older man's. "My brother didn't give me a mirror. I don't know how I look."

Aaron could see the pain in her eyes as she looked down to the flowers she held. "Beautiful."

"Don't lie to me," Emily grinned, eyes red.

There was a small rumble around the room, and the single father watched as the injured woman embarrassedly covered her stomach with her hands. "Can I get you something to eat?" he asked, amused.

Emily blushed. "I already ate today," she shrugged, the cloth of her gown between her fingers. "But it was a couple of hours ago, I guess." Biting her lip, she looked to the older man and smiled. "I could go for a cup of coffee."

"Are you allowed coffee?"

"Can't we just say I am and question it no further?" she chuckled, her hands going back to the bouquet.

"Em?"

Both brunettes looked up, Emily's eyes bugging from her head as the man rushed into her private hospital room. "Michael," she breathed, watching as his eyes raked over the injuries he could see as he sat on the vacant side of her bed. "What are you doing here?"

The blue eyed man could have gasped. "Is that a joke? Why wouldn't I be here?"

Emily gulped, looking back to Aaron with nervous eyes. "Aaron, this is Michael. My fiancé."

Aaron felt his heart drop.

"What are you doing here?" she asked again, her eyes hardening.

Michael ran his hands down his suit slacks. "I love you," he shrugged. "Why wouldn't I be here?"

The ambassador's daughter felt the veins in her neck pop out as she grew irritated. "I've been here for two days, Michael. Surely you could have come sooner."

Aaron grimaced and got himself up from his chair.

"Please don't leave," the injured woman begged. He had obviously taken off work, it was a Wednesday, and now because her idiot fiancé had showed up out of nowhere he wanted to go running for the hills.

The single father gave her a small smile. "I'll go and get you that coffee."

She sighed, shrugging off her fiancé's touch as she watched Aaron move quickly to exit the room.


	6. Chapter 6

"Mr. Hotchner!"

The single father looked up and saw Emily's doctor walking toward him. "Dr. Fey," he nodded, setting down the coffees he had been carrying so he could shake the surgeon's hand. "How are you?"

Dr. Fey smiled to the obviously stressed man. 'What's important is how your wife is," he grinned. "No panic attacks since the first time she's woken up."

Letting out a breath, Aaron thanked God that Emily had calmed and began to grow more comfortable with her situation. Maybe now the hospital wouldn't be watching her under a magnifying glass.

"Mr. Hotchner?"

The brunette man shook his head, giving an embarrassed laugh when he noticed the smile his new friend's doctor was giving him. "I'm sorry."

"Don't apologize," the surgeon chortled, his hand patting at the father's arm. "I an imagine how stressed you must be." Glancing down to his clipboard, he sighed. "I take it you figured things out with work." He had noticed the moment his patient's brother had come for a visit, Mr. Hotchner had left.

Aaron quickly nodded his head. "I took the rest of this week and next week off of work." Anything for Emily.

Dr. Fey smiled. "She's lucky to have you."

The single father held his breath as the doctor left his side, and he bowed his head.

She had Michael.

Straightening his shoulders, Aaron took the two coffees he had gotten for Emily and her fiancé, and headed back up to the third floor.

"Sweetheart, your head looks awful."

Aaron frowned as she walked up to Emily's hospital room, peeking his head in so he could see the couple but not interrupt.

"Yeah," the injured woman laughed humorlessly. "Well, I did have brain surgery."

Michael grimaced. Aaron could tell if it was from the knowledge of his fiancé's circumstances or the attitude she was giving him. "I'm sorry I couldn't be here sooner pumpkin," he cooed, leaning in and kissing the frowning woman's cheek. "I didn't hear about it until last night, and by then I was already in bed."

Aaron was surprised he didn't squeeze the cups so hard that they broke and the coffee burned his hands. That made him angry.

"No, I understand," Emily smiled cheekily. "Why come to the air of the woman you've been with for four years when you've already applied your eye cream?"

The blue eyed man frowned. "What is your problem? I didn't have to come here."

"You know what? I really wish you didn't. You don't give a single shit, Michael. I almost died! I got help from a stranger that I would never expect from you."

Michael glared. "And is he the one who got you those damn flowers? What, you're sleeping around now?"

Emily could feel her head pounding as she laughed. "Why of course! To get him to bring me flowers, I let him hop on into my hospital bed so we could fuck."

"I'm really sick of your attitude, Emily."

"And I'm sick of you not giving a shit about me!"

Aaron watched as Emily grimaced, her uninjured hand moving to touch the bandage that was wrapped around her head, and he rushed inside. "What's wrong?"

"Call the doctor," she rushed out, her eyes sealed shut as the pain washed over her.

Michael watched the other man in the room with hard eyes. "What the hell do you want with my wife?"

Aaron shook his head, holding Emily's hand as he pressed the button on the bed that signaled the nurse. "I'm pretty sure I heard her say fiancé."

"You want to fucking go?"

Emily's scared eyes popped open as she watched her fiancé shove his chair back and stand. "Michael stop it!"

"I wouldn't do that if I were you."

The blue eyed man laughed, taking the flowers that were a gift for his fiancé and throwing them against the wall. "What are you going to do about it?"

Aaron moved his jacket to the side and flashed his badge at the younger man. "Try anything and you'll be down at the police department within a matter of minutes."

Emily held tighter onto the brunette man's hand as she heard the nurses nearing her door.

"You gonna let him talk to me like that, Em?"

Her jaw twitched, and the ambassador's daughter sent daggers to the older man. "Leave," she almost growled, "and get your shit out of my house."

Michael huffed. "Excuse me?"

"We're done," she said slowly. "Do you not get that?"

He straightened up, seeing the two nurses in the doorway hesitating to step forward into the room. "Then I want the ring back."

Emily could have laughed. "Go search the sewer grates," she joked, her head falling back as the nurses injected her medication into the IV. "I lost it in the crash."

"You selfish bitch!"

With one step closer to the bed, Aaron took his gun from its holster and aimed it at the angry man. "I will give you two seconds to get out of this room before I fire."

Emily held her hands over her gaping mouth as she watched her ex storm out of the room. "Please put that away," she begged the older man, her eyes on the gun in his hands.

He sat himself back down once his gun was away and held onto the injured woman's hands. "Are you ok?"

"I'm shaking," she whispered, her eyes closed as the nurse checked her pulse.

Aaron brushed his fingers over the soft skin of the lawyer's hands as he watched her slowly start to calm as the drugs hit her veins.

Letting out a breath, the brunette woman opened her eyes so she could see the handsome man by her side.

"How many times has he done that?"

Emily bit her lip. "He's never violent," she denied, hating the way the kind stranger was staring at her. "Michael has always had a temper, but he isn't violent."

Aaron let go of her hands and picked up the now crumpled and wilted bouquet.

"Oh," she breathed, taking the flowers and feeling tears in her eyes.

"Emily?"

She shook her head, ignoring the pain she felt as she looked Aaron dead in the eyes. "He hasn't hit me," she insisted, her lips curling into a pout as she looked down to the flowers she held. "He just gets really mad sometimes."

He stroked his fingers along her shaking arm.

"Please get my phone," Emily spit out, looking down to the purse beside her bed. "Text my brother. Tell him to go to my house." She huffed, watching the single father pull out her cell phone. "I don't need Michael trying to steal my things."

Aaron frowned. "How did you get your purse?"

Emily gestured with the flowers in her hands to the desk in the hallway. "A nurse brought it in this morning saying a police officer had taken it from where I was hit." She shrugged. "All my cash is gone and I had to close my bank accounts but other than that, we're all good."

Sending a quick text to the injured woman's brother, Aaron stood. "I'm going to make a quick call to my office, alright? I'll be right back." He handed her one of the coffees and shared her smile. "Slow sips."

The police officer stepped outside the room and took his phone from his jacket pocket. "Derek," he nodded, stepping away from Emily's doorway so she wouldn't be able to hear his conversation. "You're off duty today, right? Can you and Reid head over to an address for me?" Thinking back to the address he had sent to Emily's brother, his brow furrowed. "180 on 6th Avenue." He laughed when he heard the shock in his partner's voice. "Just get over there. My friend's ex is moving his stuff out and she wants to make sure he doesn't steal anything."

Hanging up his phone, the single father turned at a tapping on his shoulder.

It was the doctor who had helped him and Emily on the street.

"Hi," he laughed, pulling the older man into a hug when he saw that big grin on his face.

"How are you, son?" the doctor smiled. "I felt awful that I didn't introduce myself. Edward Martino."

Aaron shook the silver haired man's hand. "I can't thank you enough for what you did to help Emily."

"Helping you two was a pleasure," Edward assured them. "I apologize I had to run off so quickly that day but I was late getting over to my granddaughter's birthday."

Taking in the white coat he wore, Aaron smiled. "Do you work here?"

Edward excitedly nodded his head. "Twenty-two years and counting," he laughed. Noticing the brunette falling asleep in the room behind the younger man, the doctor smiled. "I hope your wife is ok, son."

He watched the older man walk down the hall and disappear from his sight before the single father looked back into Emily's hospital room, his eyes following her as she tried to get comfortable enough in her bed with her coffee in her hands. "Me too."


	7. Chapter 7

"So how long did your father work for us?" the woman in the hospital bed questioned, her fork prodding at the food her nurses had brought for her.

The pair had spent the entire day together, Aaron helping the younger woman and staying by her side when the doctors came and ran some tests to make sure she was on her way to recovery so she wouldn't have to go through it alone. He was there for her more than her fiancé had been, and they'd known each other for less than a week.

Aaron frowned, his elbows on his knees. "A few years, I believe. I'm not too sure."

"I think I remember him," Emily chuckled lowly, sticking the tip of the fork between her lips so she could taste the rice and vegetables they had given her for dinner. "In '84 I was just ten years old, and I remember this very handsome man who would follow my parents around all the time." Nodding her head, she pointed her fork at the older man who sat by her bed. "He snuck me a couple of chocolates when my mother wouldn't let me have them."

The single father found himself laughing at the look of confidence Emily had on her face. "And how do you know it was my father?"

Emily gave a shy smile. "You look just like him."

Aaron nodded, sharing a grin with the younger woman. "Well I should tell you that he sent his condolences on your accident."

The brunette took in a breath, her hand to her chest as she locked eyes with the police officer. "That's so sweet," she smiled, her teeth biting down into her bottom lip as she smiled. "I wonder how he is. What is he doing now?"

"He's retired. Does a lot of fishing before he takes my mother to breakfast every morning," he smiled.

"That's so sweet." Emily could feel her eyes stinging at the description of the man who had made her childhood as lovely as it could have been. "He sounds like a keeper," she joked, averting her eyes from the older man and back to the television she had set on mute.

Aaron frowned at the immediate change in his new friend's attitude, and he reached forward to steal the fork from her and take his hand. "Where'd you go?"

Letting the older man knock his knuckles against hers, the lawyer smirked. "I only have small snippets of him in my memory, but what I remember most is the way he could make me smile when I was upset. I was a really sad little girl," she whispered, "and I can imagine him taking your mother out and getting her to smile the way he made me smile. Does that make sense?"

"I think so." He watched her huff and flick a few tears away before he could get her attention back on him. "So what do you plan to do for tonight?" Aaron asked, smirking at the beautiful woman as she arched a brow. "Any eligible bachelors willing to take you to dinner down in the hospital cafeteria?"

Emily smiled at the joke, leaning closer to the older man as he moved closer to her bed. "If only."

"Emily Prentiss," the single father grinned, "would you like to accompany me down to the first floor cafeteria?"

"I don't think so."

Both brunettes looked up to see Dr. Fey smiling at them, and Emily gently took her hand from Aaron's to scratch the tip of her nose. "Good evening," she smiled softly to the older man, holding out her arm so her doctor could take her blood pressure.

Dr. Fey watched as the two tried not to share a laugh as he timed the injured lawyer's pulse. "I would be honored to let you two lovebirds have a date, but Emily is on bed rest. Any type of romance will be happening in this room and this room only," he warned, smiling softly to the adults. "And remember Mr. Hotchner, she has a heart monitor attached to her."

Aaron watched the injured woman immediately start to blush, and he spoke up so Emily wouldn't have to. "I wouldn't think of anything but her recovery," the single father assured the doctor, meeting the eyes of the woman he had saved and winking.

"Oh God," she laughed, finally forgetting about her trauma and what had gone on with the crash and her fiancé and focusing on what was going on in the present.

Squeezing her new friend's hand, Emily grinned. She had Aaron.

"Mr. Hotchner, can I get you a cot for the night?"

Before the officer could speak up for himself, Emily raised her injured hand in the air. "He isn't staying here. He's going home."

Aaron frowned. What she said, without even consulting him on it, actually hurt. "Emily, I wouldn't mind staying here. You need help wi-"

"The doctors are here to help me," she whispered. "You have a job and you have a son."

The doctor stepped to the other side of the room to give the couple space as he wrote down her progress. Shrugging to himself, he listened in. Maybe his son was her stepson.

"I took a week off." He watched and waited to see the brunette woman's reaction before he continued. With her eyes wide and her jaw dropping, Aaron help up a free hand. "I said I needed off to take care of a loved one, and that's what I'm doing. I don't plan on leaving you alone here, especially when you've just gotten to the hospital."

Emily could feel her eyes stinging. He took off to take care of a loved one.

Looking back to the doctor, the officer in the plastic visitor's chair sent him a smile. "If I could get a cot, that would be great."

"You don't have to do this," she whispered to the older man once the doctor had left the room. "I know that this isn't what you really want to be doing. You don't have to stay here with me." She wanted him to, God did she want him to, but it wasn't his responsibility.

She was no one's responsibility but her own.

Aaron looked at the younger woman and noticed the fear he saw in her eyes. What she was afraid of, he didn't know. "I want to stay here. For you."

Rolling her lips inward to stop herself from crying, Emily gently nodded her head and let Aaron press a kiss to her bandage.

"I'm going to go get us some dinner, ok? Do you have any preference?"

Emily wiped her tears, chancing a laugh as she shook her head. "Whatever you choose is fine," she smiled, watching him walk out of the room with a spring in his step.

She could really fall for a guy like him.


	8. Chapter 8

"David," the ambassador's daughter huffed as he wiped the blood away from her arm.

"Don't tell me to fuck off, Emily Elizabeth."

Emily glared at her brother before turning her attention to the man fixing the bandage that wrapped around her wrist. She no longer needed a brace for it, it had been over two weeks, but she still needed the support until her bone was successfully healed. "And what are you doing?"

The police officer smirked as he set the pin in her bandage back into place. "Fixing what you undid in your little meltdown just before."

The patient gave a roll of the eyes. Her brother had come to visit because she got out in a couple of days, and with the news that her parents wouldn't be coming to visit, she flipped.

Sure they had always been busy throughout her life, missed chess matches and reading of her short stories at school, even birthdays, but this was different. She had almost died and they didn't even try and make a dent in their schedule to send her a get well card.

In her rage, screaming and fuming at the news, she had unconsciously yanked her IV out of her arm and her bandage around her wrist had come unraveled when the pin that held it together stuck to her bed sheet.

"You're lucky the doctor doesn't sedate you."

Emily grimaced at the thought. "A few more days in here and I could mess it all up because of my parents," she mused, letting Aaron hold her injured hand.

He squeezed at her small fingers.

Dave watched the pair and gagged, laughing when his little sister shot him the stink eye. "Alright little bear, the doctor said that with your head wound, you need to have someone at home with you for at least a month."

Emily squeezed her eyes shut and groaned. "I don't need a babysitter."

"According to the doctor, and me," her brother pointed out, "you do."

The brunette snorted. "Are you talking as my brother or as a doctor?"

Aaron turned to the other man in the room. "You're a doctor?"

"I am."

"He's a pediatrician," she pointed out, her brow arched as her brother turned back to look at her.

"A pediatrician who is qualified enough to know that you cannot be alone for a while," Dave groused. "Especially after what just happened." He watched her roll her eyes before placing a hand on hers. "I'm taking days off."

Emily's jaw dropped. "That's insane."

"Why?" the other Prentiss questioned. "It's what I did for you while you were here," he pointed out.

"Exactly. You've already taken way too much time off."

Dave softened his faze on the younger woman. "Em, I can afford to not go to work. You need someone to take care of you."

"I do not!" she exclaimed.

Aaron squeezed the lawyer's hand to get her attention, and once her posture relaxed and those dark eyes met his, he smiled. "What if instead of thinking of it as needing someone to take care of you, it's needing someone to sleep on your couch and maybe buy you groceries?"

The lawyer frowned at the smile on her friend's lips and let him wrap his fingers around her. "I don't want to put anybody out."

"The only person you'd be putting out is yourself if you don't let us help you."

Aaron nodded. "We can both help. That way, neither of us have to take off work all the time and you won't get too sick of us if we keep switching on and off."

Emily bit her lip. "You both have families."

Her older brother smirked. "Bun, you realize you are my family." Watching his little sister fight with herself, Dave shook his head. "Besides, do you think Allison would really mind having me out of the house every few days? She'll be packing my bags the moment I tell her the news."

Aaron watched the siblings share a smile.

"Aaron, you have Jack."

The police officer shook his head. "Not every moment of every day," he countered, the air in the room growing hotter at the look Emily was giving him. "You're not getting out of this whether you like it or not."

She had made sure not to smile at either man for the rest of her days in the hospital, doing her best to show how annoyed she was with them because they didn't seem to trust her to be on her own. Deep down she knew that wasn't it, but she wasn't accustomed to anyone wanting to care for her the way they say they did.

Helping her out of the car, Aaron chuckled. "You're going to hurt yourself."

"I'm going to hurt someone if they don't go and open the door."

The police officer shared a smile with the younger woman before hurrying up the steps of the ambassador's daughter's brownstone to unlock the door.

"Don't let the dog out," Emily warned, hiding her grimace when she felt her back twinge. Lying in a hospital bed for weeks on end had screwed up her posture, her muscles aching and spazzing every time she'd take a step. "He likes to wait by the door for me when I'm not home."

Aaron walked back down the steps and held his hand to the injured woman's back, helping her walk slowly up each step to the front door. "Don't over exert yourself, ok? I can't carry you all the time."

Emily stuck her tongue out at the older man. "Chopsy," she grinned, letting the husky lick at her fingers and snuggle into the palm of her hand. "Come sit down with me, baby." The lawyer dropped her purse on her coffee table and let Aaron feel helpful by holding her hand as she sat herself down.

"Chopsy?"

"Don't even," she laughed, sitting back into the cushions and letting the four year old black and white husky plop himself across her lap. "My goddaughter named him."

Aaron let the dog sniff him so he grew accustomed. "He's beautiful."

The lawyer immediately nodded her head in agreement. "His mother's litter was found at the side of the road, and when the news of it was in the paper I immediately went to the pound. I couldn't let all of those puppies stay there without a home."

Aaron grinned. "Why didn't you get them all?"

"It actually was very sweet; the PTA of the closest school to me had told the faculty and they had brought all of the third graders there to pick out a puppy to take home. Luckily," Emily chuckled, kissing the furry head of her dog, "I snatched this guy up before any of those pesky eight year olds could."

The single father let out a bark of a laugh at the triumphant smile on his friend's face.

Hearing the shrill ringing of a cell phone after her new friend went to find her a drink from the kitchen, after she had specifically told him not to, Emily looked up from her dog. "Aaron? Is that yours?"

The police officer rushed back into the room and set her glass of water on the coffee table. "It's Jack," he grinned, pressing the answer button. "Hey buddy!"

Emily watched how the older man's face lit up at the sound of his son on the other end of the phone, and she felt her heart break. Looking over to the small table against the nearest wall, her eyes caught the faces of her and her ex in her favorite picture frame. Their first Christmas together.

They had wanted to have kids; they were going to have it all. That was no longer a dream she could see coming true for herself.

"Yeah bud, I have a friend I want you to meet."

Emily's head spun.

Aaron held out the phone and put his son on speaker. "Remember I told you I met a new friend a few weeks ago?"

"Emmy!"

The lawyer felt herself blush at the nickname.

"I have her here with me," Aaron grinned, knowing how happy his son was to finally meet his friend. "Do you want to say hi?"

Emily bit her lip, looking nervously to the older man. "I'm not very good with children," she admitted embarrassedly.

"He already loves you. You're going to do fine."

Gently nodding her head, the brunette woman with the dog in her lap looked to the phone. "Is this Mr. Jack?"

"EMMY!"

Emily's eyes widened at the excitement in the young boy's voice. "Hi buddy," she laughed, her hand over her mouth as she felt her laughter take over. "Your daddy's told me so much about you."

"Same, Emmy! You're my daddy's friend!"

She felt his hand brush over hers, and the lawyer looked back up to Aaron and grinned. "I sure am."


	9. Chapter 9

Emily could feel herself start to get irritated with all the attention. In no way was she used to being waited on hand and foot, not by her parents and not even her brother because he knew her personality so well, and it wasn't as if she couldn't do things for herself. But Aaron was pretty much taking over her entire home.

It was his second shift in her home, a Thursday afternoon, and Emily just stood idly by as the officer in her kitchen made their lunch. "You know, I think I'm capable of making food."

Aaron didn't turn around as he continued to chop the onions. "I don't doubt that, but you have no idea how to make what I'm making."

The brunette woman frowned, sitting herself down at the kitchen table and petting her dog's head when he came running to her. "What is it that you're making?"

"A secret Hotchner family recipe."

Emily's eyes lit up when the older man turned and gave her a wink. "Really?"

"No," he chuckled, watching as she frowned before he turned back to finish chopping. "But my son loves it. Just something I cook up every once in a while."

The brunette woman poked her playful pup on the nose and let them bite at her fingers. "I feel so special," Emily grinned, her eyes on the older man as he poured the vegetables on the chopping block into the soup pot. "Is it spicy?" She could smell the onions and peppers from across the room.

"Depends on if you can handle spice or not."

Emily laughed, her dimples popping out as they often did. "So if I can handle spice then no, but if I can't then yes."

Aaron barked a laugh, turning to give the injured woman a thumb's up. "Exactly."

Hearing the doorbell ring and seeing Chopsy's ears perk up, Emily stood from her spot at the kitchen table.

"Where are you going?"

The brunette rolled her eyes, stopping in the doorway of the kitchen. "I'm going to get the door, officer." She hid her smirk at the look the older man was giving her. "What is this, a jail now?"

Hotch waved the ladle at her.

Emily grinned and let her dog follow her through the living room and to the front door. "Chopsy, knock it off," she dismissed, forcing the husky away from the door so she could get it open. "Let me open the door and then I'll get you a treat."

Chopsy was off and jumping on the couch not a second later.

Opening the door to the clouded figure she had seen through the glass, Emily's eyes bugged. "Daddy?"

Harold Prentiss stepped into the home and stopped himself from reaching out to touch the small bandage wrapped around his daughter's head.

"What are you doing here?"

Chopsy jumped off the couch and padded his way over to the front door, feeling the stiffness of his owner beside him and immediately growling at the unfamiliar man in the doorway.

"Guard dog, huh?" The diplomat watched as his daughter shooed her dog back to the living room before finally letting him in. "How are you feeling, darling?"

Emily shook her head. "Fine. Not like I almost died or anything."

Harold tentatively stepped forward and met the eyes of his only daughter, watching as she gave him a frown. "Come here, pumpkin." He thanked God that she let him pull her to his chest and hug her tight, but her arms never left her side to hug him back. "I would have come sooner if I could."

The lawyer held her breath, slowly pushing the older man away.

"Emily? Who is it?"

Harold grinned, passing by his daughter and making his way into the kitchen. "Michael boy! How's my son?"

Emily grimaced, chasing her father into the other room and almost banging into his back when he stopped short. "Daddy, this is Aaron." A hand to her father's arm, Emily gestured from one man to the other. "Aaron Hotchner, this is my father Harold Prentiss. Daddy, Aaron is the one who got me to the hospital."

The diplomat held out his hand to the younger man. "Nice to meet you, son. Thank you for taking care of my little girl."

"Michael and I broke up."

Harold turned and looked to his daughter with wide eyes. "Why's that?"

Emily grit her teeth. "Maybe because he was abusive? Or the fact that he's been cheating on me?" She gripped the back of one of her kitchen chairs when she felt herself start to grow dizzy. "Dad, he didn't even come to the hospital until days later. You and mom never came! Maybe I should break up with you!"

Aaron left his boiling pot alone on the stove and took the younger woman by the arm.

"I'm fine."

"You're not fine," he grumbled, helping her sit down in the chair she held in her hand. "Don't argue with me."

Emily huffed, taking her arm from her friend's before he left her side to get her a glass of water. "Daddy, what are you doing here? David told you that I was fine."

Harold gave a small nod before sitting down beside his daughter. "I made this day clear to come and visit you, pumpkin. I needed to see for myself."

"Oh, you cleared the entire day for me? How sweet."

Ignoring the sarcasm he heard and pain that struck his heart, Harold folded his hands on the wooden table. "I wasn't aware of how bad your accident was. I didn't know what exactly had happened until it was too late to reschedule any of my meetings." He saw the hurt on the lawyer's face and he stopped himself from reaching across the table and taking her hands. "Emily, I'm so sorry. But I'm here now."

The brunette forced her tears to tread back as she glanced up to the ceiling. "I appreciate it daddy," she whispered, "but I um, I'm not having a great day. I think we should do this another time."

Aaron watched the eyes of the older man grow sad at the remark, but he turned his back to give them privacy.

"Let me walk you to the door." Emily stood herself up with the help of the chair and led him through her living room, wiping her eyes so he wouldn't see her tears. "Just tell me when your next free day is and we'll have dinner."

Harold put a hand to his daughter's shoulder. "I love you, pumpkin."

The lawyer bit her cheek to stop herself from crying, and she nodded her head. "I know," she rasped, letting him gently squeeze her shoulder. "I love you too."

Aaron made his way into the living room and watched as the younger woman sat herself quietly down on the couch, her hands rubbing over her thighs. "Do you want me to bring you your water?"

Emily shook her head, her eyes staring off into the distance as she felt her chest start to tighten.

Walking across the room, the police officer sat down beside his new friend and wrapped his arms around her. "It's ok," he whispered, letting her turn in his hold and sob against his neck, her good hand gripping his shirt. "It's ok."

The brunette sniffled into his neck as she took a second to catch her breath. "Your soup is going to burn."

"That's ok." He held her tight, the smell of his soup permeating through the air as he listened to her cry.


	10. Chapter 10

Moving around her living room, Emily grinned as she moved her wrist from right to left, up and down and swayed it from side to side. She had finally been able to take it out of it's brace the day before, and even though she knew she still had to be careful, it just felt good to be able to move it normally again.

She fixed the cushions of her couch before surveying the rest of the room, her hands on her hips. David had left her along the night before, confident in his little sister to keep herself safe throughout the night, and today was Aaron's turn to babysit. Rolling her eyes at the term, she smiled.

It was two weeks since she had broken down in his arms, and her house smelled of his burnt soup for days after.

"Chops," she called, her hand immediately going out to rub his head when he came charging over. "What should mommy make for lunch?"

The husky nudged the lawyer's hand with his wet nose.

Emily nodded, leading the dog back through the house and into the kitchen. "Pasta it is."

Jumping out of the cab, Aaron turned and caught his son in his arms. "Oh, you're so heavy!" he groaned, twirling him around before setting him on the sidewalk. "We might have to stop feeding you."

The boy with blond hair grinned up to his father. "No!"

"No? You sure?"

Jack nodded vigorously, his hand in the officer's as they walked down the street. "We meeting Emmy, daddy?"

"We are." He hoped she'd be ok with that. They hadn't made any plans for her to meet his son, it didn't matter how close they were at that moment, because now he had to bring him to her home. His ex's sister was supposed to take care of him after his day at school but she had a work emergency and now it was Aaron's responsibility for the day.

It wasn't that he didn't love his son, it was that he wanted time with Emily.

"You like her, daddy?"

Aaron helped him up each step to the front door of the brownstone before lifting him back onto his hip. "I sure do, bud." He took out the key his new friend had made for him and unlocked the door. "You're gonna like her too."

Hearing her door unlock from the kitchen, Emily smiled as she stirred the uncooked pasta into the now boiling water. "You're late!" she called, laughing when she heard the door close. "You owe me a beer."

"A beer?"

Emily chuckled at the shock she heard in his voice. "It only seems fair since I'm cooking for you."

"Food!"

The semi familiar voice made Emily pause, her head turning toward the living room. "I'm taking a wild guess and saying that you suddenly got really good at impressions." She stepped away from the stove and walked out of the kitchen, her eyes wide when she saw her friend with a little boy standing before him. "Well hello," she choked out.

Jack grinned at the sight of his new friend and ran for her, his arms wrapping around her waist. "Hi Emmy!"

Emily's good hand went to the young boy's back, her eyes flickering up to Aaron's. "Jack?" she mouthed to the older man, watching as he nodded before she looked down to the blond hanging onto her. "Hi Jack."

Tilting his head back, the seven year old smiled up to the lawyer with one of his front teeth missing. "Daddy likes you."

Aaron rushed over to the pair when the words came out of his son's mouth and laughed, taking Jack from his friend's legs when he saw her freeze. "He knows you're my friend."

"Right," she breathed, smiling at the older man. "Well I was just making pasta for us. Do you like pasta, Jack?"

"Mac and cheese?"

Emily quickly nodded her head. She had planned on a more mature choice for her and her new friend but if Jack wanted mac and cheese then that's what she'd make. "Do you like mac and cheese?"

Jack's eyes grew wide as he followed her into the kitchen. "So much!"

Sitting his son down at the kitchen table with a glass of milk, the police officer walked up to the woman of the house and settled himself against the counter. "I'm so sorry I didn't warn you," he apologized, meeting her eyes as she stirred the pasta. "His aunt was supposed to have him today but she had an emergency."

"I would have met him at some point. It's alright."

Aaron leaned into her and listened to her laughter, his chin on her shoulder to look at what she was cooking. "You weren't making mac and cheese."

Emily smirked. "I am now."

Hearing a squeal, both adults turned to see Jack on the kitchen floor wrestling with the dog, Emily's hand coming up to smother the laughter she felt bubbling in her chest. It was the cutest thing she'd ever seen.

"He's so big!"

Aaron laughed, leaving the lawyer's side to kneel on the ground and scratch behind the husky's ears.

Biting her lip, Emily watched as the two started to roll around with the dog who had kept her sane during the last few years, and she wondered if this would be more than a single occurrence for them. Maybe they could do this once every few weeks.


	11. Chapter 11

Emily covered her mouth with her hand, her eyes sealed shut as her entire body wracked with laughter. "Oh my God," the lawyer gasped, grinning to her brother as she held her aching stomach. "That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard."

Dave slapped his little sister's hand away from the bread basket on the table so he could get the last piece. "Really? Because it looks like you're laughing."

"I'm laughing at your stupidity," she fired back, stealing the bread from her brother. Raising a brow, the ambassador's daughter dipped a piece of the bread in the butter on her plate. "You're that stupid that your wife almost threw you out?"

The older Prentiss shook his head. "Not true. I just had a crazy night with Aaron and came home a little late." Shrugging, Dave took a swig of his beer. "It was just a little too late that Allison didn't like it so I slept in my car."

Emily grimaced as the two men clinked bottles. "You two are disgusting."

Aaron quickly shook his head, pointing the tip of his bottle to the only woman at the table. "Disgusting?"

"You men," she huffed, grinning at them both when they looked to her with wide eyes. "I'm just kidding."

"Alright," the waitress grinned, setting the plates of food on the table. "Wings for the table, and fries for Dave."

Emily glared as her brother took the entire plate of fries for himself.

"I'll share," he assured her.

Looking to the only woman at the table, the waitress gripped her tray harder. "How are you feeling, Emily?"

The lawyer held in her sigh, seeing the twenty year old's eyes go to the tiny pad of gauze on her head. Thankfully, she no longer needed the huge bandage wrapped around her head, but this way some of her stitches showed and she got, if possible, more attention than before. "Getting better," she nodded, smiling to the waitress. Being a regular in a pub not only got you free beers but thousands of questions if one of your hairs was out of place.

Aaron stole a wing from the plate in the middle of the table and smiled to his friend. "How are you really feeling?"

Emily wrapped her lips around the bottle with her eyes glued to those of the police officer, letting the beer slide down her throat before she answered. "Better," she smiled truthfully. "I get my stitches out in two weeks and then I go back to work." She had been working on a new case for a few days and when she was finally able to be back in the office and meeting with the woman she'd be helping sue a hospital in the city for malpractice.

"Well let's cheers to that."

Emily clanked her beer bottle against those of her brother and friend, her lips curving upward when they began chugging to see who could finish first.

"This looks like fun."

Turning her head at the wide eyes of the men she sat with, Emily's jaw almost dropped, the beer almost spilling from her mouth.

Harold Prentiss gave a nervous grin before lifting his arms. "May I join?"

Dave stood and pulled out the empty chair at the table, hugging his father when he came at him with open arms. "How are you, dad?"

"Cold," he laughed, shrugging off his jacket as he sat down. It had gotten so cold the past week that those in the city were able to see their breath before them. "I don't know how you kids deal with this."

Nodding when her father leaned in, the lawyer let the older man press a kiss to her forehead. "What are you doing here?"

Harold shrugged, his grey hair looking shades darker in the dim restaurant. "I remember you saying that this was one of your favorite places a few years back, so I thought I'd give it a try." He set his hands on his daughters' and squeezed. "I wanted to have that dinner with you."

"I'm sorry I didn't call you." She had just been getting back on her feet and the short conversation they'd had never even crossed her mind.

"Well I'm here now," he grinned, patting her hand before waving over the nearest waitress over to the table. "Can I have a beer please?"

"A bottle, sir? From the tap?"

Harold turned and looked to each of his kids with wide eyes. He was always a bourbon man, only drinking beer back in his college days. He had no idea there was more than one kind.

Emily forced herself not to laugh as she looked to the waitress. "Get another round for the table, please," she nodded, showing her the beer in her hand.

"And a burger!" the diplomat called, grinning to his daughter to show how pleased he was with himself. "Aaron, my boy! How are you?"

"Better now that I don't have to babysit anymore."

Emily's jaw hit the floor.

Aaron laughed, reaching out and nudging the younger woman's shoulder. "Don't be offended. I still spend almost every day at your house."

"And eat my food," she pointed out, her brow arched.

"Don't blame me for eating your food when you're the one who's making it for me."

Emily grinned. "I think Jack is a better houseguest than you."

Holding up his hand, Harold leaned closer to the table. "Jack?"

"My son," Aaron nodded, a proud grin on his face. "He turns eight in less than three months and wants Emily to cook for his party," he laughed.

Harold watched the two communicate with one another, smiles flashing from one to the other, and he leaned into his son by his side, catching the newly falling sow out the windows in the corner of his eye. "David, do you meet a child as a friend or as a potential girlfriend?"

The ambassador's son huffed. "With these two? I'm not sure yet."


	12. Chapter 12

Aaron poked the younger woman in the ribs as she did her best to get the key in the lock for her front door. "Do you want us to freeze out here?"

The brunette laughed as he tickled her, his other hand holding his jacket over them both to stop them from getting soaked in the freezing rain. "I'm doing my best," she choked out through her laughter, her body jolting as he poked her in the side once more.

They rushed into the house once Emily got the door open and flickered on the lights, Aaron closing and locking the door behind him. "Who knew it would start raining?" he huffed, hanging his jacket on the brunette's coat rack.

"I did."

He looked to the younger woman fluffing her hair in the middle of the living room, her smile flashing over to him before she made her way to the fireplace. "You did?" Watching her nod, the father of one waved his hands in the air. "And you didn't think to bring an umbrella?"

Emily chuckled as she threw the lit match into the new wood, watching the fire quickly spread from log to log. "You don't get it?" She stood and turned, her hands on Aaron's chest when he popped up before her. "I wanted to have you use your jacket instead of some lousy umbrella," the lawyer giggled, letting him take her in his arms and dip her.

Picking her back up, the officer laughed into Emily's dark and damp hair. "So you're just using me for my jacket?"

"There really is no other purpose to have you around." Leaning back in his arms, she patted his cheek with her hand. "Now come on, I need a warm drink." It was raining in the winter time, and it was messing up her system.

Aaron watched her hips as she walked away, but quickly followed her into the kitchen. "Hey Chopsy," he grinned, scratching the dog behind the ears. "You good for your mommy?"

Emily smirked at the term and started the kettle.

"Do you mind if I have what you're having?"

The lawyer let the older man set his hands on her hips as she stayed in front of the stove, eyes on the fire beneath the kettle. "You don't even know what I'm having," she laughed softly, her hands running over those of the older man. They had gotten close over the few weeks they'd known each other, but him saving her life more than once had made her feel something she'd never felt with any other man in her life.

And she was beautiful. Setting his chin on her shoulder and meeting those brown eyes, that was the conclusion Aaron came to. She was beautiful. "Anything you have, I'll have. Don't have to know what it is."

"I could feed you poison and you'd take it willingly," the lawyer snorted.

"I definitely would."

Emily met the eyes of the older man and bit her lip.

"I trust you."

The brunette woman smiled softly to the older man, letting his forehead rest against hers. "I trust you too," she whispered, leaning into the officer behind her before the whistling of the kettle made her jump. "Fuck," she laughed as she moved herself from her arms. "Tea?"

Aaron laughed and got the mugs from the cabinet beside the sink.

Leading the older man back into her living room, she sat on the couch and clicked on the television, feeling both sides of the couch beside her dip when both Aaron and Chopsy took their places. "How's Jack?" she asked quietly, her eyes on the news when she changed it to the right channel.

"Better," he smiled. The seven year old had started to miss his mother more than when she had first passed, but he had wanted to spend the night at his grandmother's and have her read him his favorite stories. "He likes spending time with Haley's mom. It's helpful."

She took his free hand and held it, her eyes back on the television as to not make the atmosphere uncomfortable.

"How's your head?"

Emily let him tighten his hold on her hand and she took a sip of her tea. "Better," she copied, grinning when she heard his laughter. Looking to the officer beside her, Emily nodded. "My headaches are getting better, and I get the stitches out in four days."

Aaron clinked his mug as lightly as he could against the other brunette's. "We can celebrate with champagne."

"Beer," she corrected, smiling around the rim of her mug when he flashed her his dimples. "A nice cold beer."

"Have you told your doctor you've already been drinking?"

Emily gave a good natured roll of the eyes. "No," the lawyer huffed, laughing at the look on the older man's face. "It was one night and I got home just fine." Aaron had driven her home and even walked her all the way to her bedroom to make sure she was really ok.

All she had wanted to do was drag him in there with her.

"And I'll be even better when the stitches are out," Emily grinned, her head lying against Aaron's shoulder when he gently kissed her dark hair.

Before the older man could speak a knock at the door interrupted him, both heads spinning when it turned into a persistent banging against the expensive wood. "Jeez," Emily huffed, setting down her mug and walking over to the door.

Aaron's eyes followed the lawyer's every movement.

"It's Michael," she said surprised, her hand hesitantly reaching to unlock the door.

Peeking her head out the front door, the brunette woman's eyes met those of her ex, his hair and clothes drenched from the rain he was standing in. "Michael," she whispered, her neck strained as she watched his eyes harden on her. "What are you doing here?"

The blond pushed the door open, sending his ex flying backwards into her home.

Aaron jumped from the couch and took Emily's arms, his gaze hardening on the man he had threatened weeks earlier to get him out of his friend's hospital room. "What are you doing here?"

"What are _you_ doing here?"

Emily got herself standing but let the man by her side hold her to him.

Michael was pissed drunk.

Taking a small step forward and moving his hands from the woman beside him, Aaron shook his head. "I'm Emily's friend. Why are you here, Michael?" He spoke as softly as he could but the anger was clearly present in his voice. "You don't live here anymore."

The blonde's head shook, his eyes squinting as he looked to the lawyer. "Emily."

Emily gulped.

"I miss you," he almost cried, hearing the rain pounding against the steps of the brownstone behind him. "I want to talk about us."

"We broke up, Michael. There is no more us."

Michael's head shook harder, his hand reaching back to do what looked like move the sticking shirt away from his skin. "You left me for him?"

Emily's fingers played nervously before her before she found herself taking a step forward. "Michael, Aaron and I aren't together."

"No," he whispered desperately, taking the gun from his back pocket.

The brunette woman watched with scared eyes as the blond in her front doorway aimed it for her friend, and she shot forward. "Michael no!"


	13. Chapter 13

Her nails were bleeding.

Staring down to the nails she had been picking and biting at for the past four hours, Emily could barely see any nails left. Her new friend had been in surgery for ours and the lawyer couldn't handle the stress she had while waiting for news from his doctor.

Michael had been arrested. After shouting her friend a neighbor had called the police to report gunshots, but Emily couldn't get to the phone to call for an ambulance. She had watched the bullet pierce through Aaron's stomach before he fell unconscious to her living room floor. That's when Michael took ahold of Emily. But he didn't hurt her.

He loved her. He saw her crying and held her tight as Aaron bled out and stained her wood floors. Emily couldn't get out of his hold, the older man's arms too strong for her to fight against. But when she heard the gun fall to the floor, she had kept herself still letting him stroke her hair as she stared down to Aaron's seemingly lifeless body.

Michael had issues but he wasn't an evil man.

Finally after the longest seven minutes of her life, Emily heard the police sirens outside her brownstone and took the chance to break free of her ex's arms and check for a pulse on her friend who hadn't moved once he'd fallen.

There was barely a beat.

Looking up at the sound of her name being called, Emily was quick to wipe her eyes and stand from her chair. She let her father pull her against his chest and she sneakily used his coat as a tissue to wipe her running nose. "Daddy, I'm scared."

Harold pressed a kiss just beside the small pad of gauze on his daughter's head. "I know, darling." His hands running down the lawyer's back, the father of two felt his daughter softly shaking in his hold. 'How long has he been in there?"

"Almost five hours."

He sat them both down in the chairs of the waiting room, facing the front desk of their floor. "Where's your brother?"

Emily looked down the hallway, gesturing toward the nurses roaming around on that floor. "He went to get us coffee," she rasped, her fingertips rubbing gently at the corners of her eyes. "He's ready to pass out."

Harold watched as his daughter hold her own just as she always had. He could see her eyes become glassy with tears but none fell, her chin somehow staying completely still when he knew it should have been trembling like crazy. "But you're not?"

"Alert as I've ever been," she nodded, feeling her father's hand rub down her arm.

Walking back over to the waiting room, Dave handed a cup to his sister and nodded to his father before he sat back down in his chair.

"Walk do you good?"

Dave leaned into his little sister and pressed a long kiss to her forehead, feeling her shake as he wrapped his free arm around her shoulders. "I know it's hard," he whispered into her hair, feeling the eyes of their father on him as Emily tried her best to keep it together. "He's going to be ok, alright? Just keep thinking that."

Emily had never been one to pray, not since she was fifteen years old, but that night she had said more prayers than she could count. Her best friend could be dead right now, and it would be all her fault.

"Emmy!"

The brunette woman turned her head to see that beautiful little boy running down the hall toward her, and she stood fast enough to trip and fall flat on her face if there was something before her feet. "Jack," she whispered, kneeling to the ground and letting his little body slam into her. "Hey baby."

The seven year old hiccupped into Emily's chest, his arms tight around her neck as she lifted him off the ground and held him in her arms. "Where's daddy?"

"Daddy's with the doctor, Jack." Looking up from the blond in her arms, Emily found herself looking at an unfamiliar blond woman with her hand tight around the strap of her purse.

Putting out her hand, the woman who had brought Jack to the hospital tried for a smile. "Jessica. I'm Jack's aunt."

Emily's eyes shot open. "Hi," she nodded, shaking the younger woman's hand. "I'm so sorry, Aaron has told me about you but I've never actually seen a picture or anything."

"Please don't worry about it."

Jack tugged gently on Emily's shirt collar and waited until she looked down to him. "I want daddy."

Emily pressed a small kiss to his head and nodded. "I want daddy too, buddy. I'm sure we'll get to see him soon."

"Family of Aaron Hotchner?"

The few people in the waiting room all turned to see a doctor walking out with his mask in his hand, fingers rubbing the stress and sleep from his eyes. "Yes?"

The doctor smiled. "He's just fine."

Emily almost fell over right then and there. Hugging Jack to her as tight as she could without breaking the bones in his little body, she let her tears fall into his fine hair. He was ok.

"He's awake and asking for an Emily and Jack."

The seven year old in the lawyer's arms quickly raised his hand.

Emily gave a watery laugh and held the little boy's hand. "That's us," she nodded, kissing Jack's fist in her hand before following the doctor down the hall, feeling the relief from her family back in the waiting room wash over her.

Stepping just before the room's door, Emily set Jack to the ground. "Can you do something for me, Jack?"

The blond boy nodded up to the older woman.

Doing her best to smile, the lawyer smoothed her hand over his blond hairs and nodded back to him. "Daddy isn't feeling very well," she whispered, holding his hands in hers. "So when we go in there we have to be very careful, ok? We can't jump all over him or get him too excited."

Jack itched his cheek and led the brunette woman into the room. "Ok Emmy."

Emily's eyes met the body of her friend in the hospital bed, wires and tubes coming out of every bit of skin showing. Feeling her walls immediately beginning to come down, Emily put a hand up to cover her mouth so she wouldn't vocalize her cry, her heart breaking at seeing the older man barely moving.

Gently turning his head, the officer's eyes lit up at the sight of his two favorite people. "Hey there."

"Hi daddy," the little boy whispered, walking up to the side of the hospital bed and looking to his father. "You ok daddy?"

"A little sore, but I think I'm ok."

Emily sat herself down in the plastic chair near the foot of the bed and gestured for Jack to come back to her. Lifting the seven year old into her lap, the lawyer tried her best to smile at the older man.

Aaron shook his head. "Don't even try to say you're sorry."

"Why?" The brown eyed woman tried her best to stop herself from crying as her friend looked to her. "It's my ex who shot you."

"But you didn't shoot me," Aaron laughed, hiding his grimace at the pain that immediately shot through him. "You don't have to be sorry."

Emily bit hard into her bottom lip, her arms tight around the little boy in her lap. "Can I do anything to help you?" When she watched him give her question thought, Emily bit back her smile. "A bottle of wine?"

The older man huffed.

"A handy?"

Aaron's eyes popped open. "Emily!" he chastised, watching her hide her smiling face behind his son.

Jack looked up to the woman whose lap he sat on. "Give a hand!" the seven year old grinned, repeating the phrase he had heard many times before and clapping for his father.

The brunette woman snorted a laugh before clapping for the older man, sharing a smile with him. She was just glad he was ok.


	14. Chapter 14

Keeping her hands tight around his arm, Emily helped Aron through his home's front door. "Nice place," she grinned, hearing him chuckle as she sat him down on the couch. "A lot cozier than my brownstone."

The injured man shared a smile with the younger woman. "And not as expensive."

Emily stuck her tongue out at the older man before closing the front door. "You love my brownstone."

"I do," he nodded, "and all the free food that comes with it."

Emily let out a bark of a laugh as she sat herself down beside the police officer. "Free for you," the lawyer laughed, pulling a few pillows from around the couch and lying them behind and beside the older man.

"Stop," Aaron chasted, batting his friend's hands away. "Go back to work." The younger woman had come to the hospital on her lunch break to finally take him home.

"I can take as long a lunch as I want." Sitting back, the brown eyed brunette crossed her legs. "I'm injured," she dramatically whimpered, setting a hand to her forehead.

The father of one slapped Emily's hand from her head with a laugh. "You are not."

Emily turned her head slightly to the side and touched the spot on her scalp where her hair was starting to grow again. "Look good?" She had finally gotten her stitches out a few days ago and she was the happiest she'd been in a long time. She felt normal again.

Except for the random tuft of hair near her forehead.

Gently thumbing the short hairs starting to grow, Aaron grinned. "It's an interesting look." She wore heels and a perfectly tailored skirt suit, and at the top of her curled head of hair looked as if she'd shaved a small spot around this nasty looking scar.

Emily pursed her lips and gave a shrug. "What are you going to do?" Showing him her wrist, she grinned. "But look at what you get when you're in a life threatening accident," she laughed. "Diamonds!"

Aaron's eyes grew wide.

"My dad got it for me," the lawyer said sweetly, looking at the diamond bracelet that shined in the sunlight. "He also said it's from mother."

The older man watched the way his friend grinned at the piece of jewelry. "Do you believe him?"

Emily snorted. "Not in a million years." She stood from the couch and dusted off her navy blue skirt, walking through the short hallway and into Aaron's kitchen. "Water or juice?"

"Soda!"

The brunette searched for the glasses until she found the right cupboard and filled one with water from the tap.

Aaron frowned, hearing the running water as he tried to readjust himself on his couch.

"Stop that," Emily whispered harshly as she walked back into the living room, setting the glass down on the coffee table and sitting herself back down by friend's side. "Sit still."

The single father huffed. "You want me to sit still all day and night?"

The younger woman kept her blank gaze on the officer who sat beside her. "Yes," she nodded simply.

Aaron shook his head, starting to stand from the couch. "I'm fine."

Standing with the older man, Emily took his arm. "Aaron," she whispered, her eyes hard on him as she caught him before he stumbled. "You've been shot. This isn't just some bruise that'll heal in a few days."

"I'm fine."

Emily kept her patience and followed in his footsteps as he walked toward the staircase. Her dark eyes were on his every move as his hand came out to clutch the railing, and her hands did their best not to reach out and steady him when he took his first step.

"Stop hovering," he laughed.

"Stop worrying me," the brunette challenged with a smile, following the older man up the stairs. It took a good couple of minutes but when they were finally at the second floor landing, the police officer turned around to face his friend.

Emily laughed at the triumphant look on his face. "Yeah yeah," she snorted, "you did it."

Aaron got a high five from the beautiful brunette before he led her to his bedroom, sensing her standing near his door as he walked over to his closet.

"Nice room," the lawyer stated softly, her eyes moving from inch to every inch until they landed on the bed. Sinking her teeth into the skin of her lip, her eyes hit the two silk pillows behind the ones Aaron actually slept on and immediately felt the need to go over and run her hand across the material.

"You ok?"

Emily's head turned at the sound of her friend and she followed him farther into the room. "Are you?" She knelt before him at the edge of the bed and easily slid off his shoes.

Aaron was taken aback. "What are you doing?"

She gestured to the sweats the older man had pulled out as she took of his other shoe. "Can't do that alone." Her voice was soft, not wanting to ruin the sensitive tension that floated around them as she helped him stand. She slowly helped him out of the jeans the doctor had helped him into at the hospital, the ones he had worn the night he was shot, her eyes glued to his as they fell around his ankles.

She knelt once more and kept one sturdy hand around his leg as the man above her lifted, and she got the pants out from around his ankles before helping him slip the sweats on and up around his waist.

Aaron took the younger woman's hand as she stood, her free hand still on his hip. "Thank you."

Gulping, the brunette woman gave a small nod. "I have to go," she spoke up, her hands coming away from the officer and wiping against her skirt. "I'll call you when I get out of work, ok?"

"You don't need to check up on me."

Emily smiled gently before leaning in and pressing the smallest kiss to his scruffed cheek. "I'll call you."

Aaron watched the younger woman sway her hips as she walked out of his bedroom and down the stairs, and he did his best to get the image out of his mind as he sat back down, hearing his front door close.


	15. Chapter 15

Walking up to the car door, the lawyer tapped lightly on the tinted window to get the seven year old's attention.

"Emmy!"

The brunette woman smiled wide at the cheerful boy in the backseat, waiting for his aunt to open the door so she could take him out. "Thank you again for letting me have him tonight," Emily smiled gently to the blonde beside her. It was the day prior that she and Jack's father had shared an intimate moment, her helping him out of his clothes and onto his bed, and she wanted to spend as much time with them as she could.

"It's no problem." Jessica reached in and unbuckled the young boy. Whatever was going on between her brother-in-law and the lawyer he had saved from that car accident was none of her business, but if it got her alone time with her boyfriend then she was all for it. "You remember what he's allergic to?"

Emily was quick to nod her head, taking the backpack. "Strawberries and peanuts."

"Bedtime?"

"Eight on the nose," the lawyer smiled. She knew she wouldn't be alone with Jack, but his father was still recovering. She wanted to make sure she was able to do everything she could so Aaron could rest.

The blond boy rambled through the backseat and into Emily's arms, laughing loudly when she tickled his stomach. "Emmy stop!"

Putting him down, Emily made sure to grab his hand. "Are you excited?" she grinned, thanking Jessica one more time before starting up the street. "A whole night with your daddy?"

"And you, right Emmy?"

Emily smiled down to the little boy. "For tonight, I'm all yours." She let the seven year old lead her up the street and to her father's front door. "Do you want to do it, Jack?" If Aaron had followed her instructions for that day, he would have stayed on the first floor so he was able to get to the bathroom and kitchen without much hassle, and he would be able to answer the door for them.

Stepping away from the older woman, Jack rapped his knuckles once against the white door.

"Who is it?"

Emily could hear the huff from behind the door.

"Daddy!" Jack laughed, Emily's hand on his shoulder reminding him not to launch himself at his father when the door opened.

Keeping himself still, the police officer let his son run into his legs. "Jack Attack," he grinned, ruffling his son's hair, "God, how big have you gotten?"

He stood back and smiled up to his father, letting him use his hand to measure his height against his body.

"You're up to my chest already and it's only been a week." He gave his son the gentlest hug he could before gesturing for the beautiful brunette in his doorway to step inside, closing the door behind her.

Emily brushed a stray hair from her eye, setting Jack's backpack at the foot of the coatrack. "Hi."

Aaron wrapped his arm around Emily's shoulders and brought her to his chest. "Hi." Pulling back, he ran his thumb over the dimple in her cheek. "Don't yell," he warned her, "but I made us dinner."

The lawyer's jaw dropped.

"I stayed downstairs all day," Aaron smiled, taking Emily's hand and slowly leading her into the kitchen, "and I stayed on the couch most of the time, which was incredibly hard by the way." Frowning, he turned to the younger woman. "I didn't think it would be so difficult to stay still."

Emily looked at her friend with concerned eyes. "Did you hurt yourself?"

"I'm just fine." His hand squeezed hers before letting it go, turning and showing her the food on the table. "I made fettuccini alfredo with chicken, heated some bread," he knew it was her favorite to have fresh bread with her pasta, "and there are chicken nuggets for Jack," he laughed.

Before she could thank him properly, the seven year old mentioned came running into the kitchen. "Chicken nuggets?"

Aaron put the plate in front of Jack as he sat down. "Start eating, bud. Em are you ready?"

"Do you mind if I change first?" She had come straight from work, still in her skirt and heels, and with the bag she brought she had her favorite sweatpants.

When he nodded his acknowledgement, Emily slipped off her heels and set the by the front door, and snuck upstairs so she was able to change and go to the bathroom.

Locking the door, the lawyer was quick to get herself into the sweatpants and t-shirt she had brought for herself. It wasn't that she didn't trust her friend, but fresh out of the hospital and having to take care of a seven year old obviously wasn't going to be easy work. And if it gave her an excuse to hang out with her friend and his son then that was a bonus point.

After she washed her hands, Emily fixed the gentle smudges of her eyeliner and took a peek at the pain pills the hospital had given Aaron when he left. It hadn't looked like he'd taken any, which, for her, was better than taking too may.

"We thought you fell in," Aaron chuckled, sharing a grin with his son as Emily sat herself down.

The lawyer threw a wink at the little boy, stealing a piece of bread from the basket in the middle of the table. "I could of. Seems like someone doesn't know how to put the seat down."

Aaron's smile fell as he heard his son break out into laughter with the younger woman. "Funny."

Emily laughed, swallowing the rest of the bread she had left.

"So Jack asked if we could watch a movie afterward." He looked across the table to the brunette woman and watched as she took a bite of her pasta. "I told him once his homework was finished, we could watch anything that you picked for us."

The brown eyed woman's face lit up. "I get to pick?"

A half hour later she picked something that she and Aaron could enjoy as well as Jack, and the seven year old had passed out before it even rang seven o'clock.

Emily carried the young boy up to his bed and tucked him in so his father wouldn't tear the stitches in his abdomen. When she started back down the stairs she immediately saw Aaron on the second step, his hand holding tight onto the railing. "What are you doing?"

Rolling his eyes, the police officer stood still until Emily was behind him with her hands supporting his back. "And I'm back in the prison," he muttered, hiding his smile when Emily slapped his back.

"You're lucky I don't handcuff you to the bed," she retorted.

Aaron turned his head, raising an eyebrow at the younger woman.

In an effort to hide her blush Emily was quick to turn Aaron's head around and help him up the next step. "You're not leaving anything down here, are you? If you forget something tell me so I can come back down for it."

"You know, I can walk."

"Barely," she huffed, following him to the top of the staircase.

Emily helped him into the room and let him sit down while she got him a glass of water and his pills.

"Where did you plan on sleeping?" he asked, his brow arched as he took the water. He didn't mind that she had invited herself over to take care of him and his son, but he didn't have a guest room for her to take.

Frowning, the younger brunette shrugged. "The couch downstairs." She knelt before him, taking the glass once he was done and setting it on the nightstand.

"Emily." Aaron took one of her hands to get her attention. "I'm ok." When her brown eyes looked up to him, he made sure to hold her gaze. "I'm not going to disappear."

She wasn't going to let herself cry in front of the older man, and she pulled back her tears when she felt her eyes start to sting.

"You don't have to watch my every step."

"But I do," she almost whispered back. "Michael shot you, and if you didn't know who I was then that wouldn't have happened." It was her job to make sure that nothing like that happened again.

If he had the strength, Aaron would have lifted Emily from the ground and sat her beside him. "If I didn't know who you were, I don't know if I would have gotten over Haley's death as smoothly as I did, I wouldn't know your amazing dog," he chuckled, "and I wouldn't know your badass brother who's my new bar buddy." Seeing the smile he got out of her, the police officer cupped her cheek. "My life wouldn't be as full if I hadn't of met you."

Emily could feel her heartbeat steadily incline as she sat herself taller on her knees. Glancing down to his chapped lips, she barely had time to think before they both moved in.

It was chaste, the brown eyed woman not having time to cup the back of his head with her hand or him not being able to running his fingers through her hair, before they broke apart.

Feeling his breath against her cheek, Emily met Aaron's eyes. "Can I sleep here?" she asked, her voice low. "With you?"


	16. Chapter 16

Feeling the unfamiliar warmth beside her Emily stretched her arms and turned onto her back. Blinking, she saw the injured man with his hand laying just beside her head. She had forgotten after their kiss he had let her sleep beside him so she wouldn't have to stay down on the couch. This way she would be able to help him if he needed to get up in the middle of the night, and she'd be lying if she thought it didn't make her heart swell to lie so close to him.

When she noticed he was still fast asleep she turned to face him, pulling his comforter up to her shoulders. She smiled at the serene look on the officer's face as he slept, and quietly she slipped her hand just next to his before closing her eyes.

She had heard the older man multiple times in the middle of the night when he tried to make himself more comfortable. Hearing him groan, Emily's eyes would flutter open and she would ask what she could do for him. Stopping the conversation from continuing, he would put his hand over hers and slowly fall back to sleep with her. He didn't want her to worry, and his warm hand in hers had her fall right back to sleep.

"Your hands are softer than I thought they would be."

Surprised at the voice, Emily's eyes popped open to see Aaron staring back at her. She kept quiet as he put his hand over hers, his fingers running over the warm skin.

His eyes flashed down to her hands for a moment.

"So you thought I'd have manly hands?"

Aaron watched as the younger woman quietly laughed at her own joke, and his hand squeezed hers. "I never said that," he said sleepily. "But you're a lawyer and you go to the gym. I know you can pack a punch," he winked. "I thought they'd be a little rougher."

The brunette woman smirked. "I think yours are rough enough for the both of us," she smiled.

Running his thumb over her hand, the injured man smiled. "I'm glad you stayed."

Emily's lashed tickled her cheeks as she blinked. "Me too." Slowly she slipped her hand from his and sat up in bed, making sure to run her fingers through her hair so it wouldn't look as messy as it usually did in the morning. "You didn't get up all night. Do you need to go to the bathroom?"

Aaron nodded, holding up a hand when she moved toward him. "I know you want to help me, but I promise I can do it myself."

The lawyer immediately knew he could see the apprehension in her eyes at the sigh he gave.

"Do you trust me?"

Emily could feel him moving to hover over her as she nodded. "Of course I do," she almost whispered, her eyes closing when his lips brushed hers.

Aaron grinned, pulling back from the younger woman. "Watch."

With her pillow clutched in her hand Emily anxiously watched the older man stand from the bed. It wasn't that she questioned him, that she didn't trust him, it was that she knew his injury tired him within only a few minutes. She didn't want to have to explain to Jack that they were taking his dad back to the hospital because he overexerted himself.

The officer sent a smile to the brunette in his bed when he reached the bathroom doorway. "Stronger than ever," he winked, flexing his muscles to show off.

"Alright," she snorted, throwing the pillow she had been holding in her lap at the older man.

As he walked into the bathroom Emily heard Aaron's bedroom door squeak open. Turning her head she saw the seven year old she had picked up from his aunt the previous day peeking his head in from the hallway. "Jack," she breathed, immediately pulling the covers over her as she felt a wave of embarrassment wash over her. "Sweetie you're up early, aren't you?"

Jack grinned and ran over to the bed. "Did you have a sleepover, Emily?"

"Yes we did," his father's voice came.

Emily watched the officer step out of the bathroom with a toothbrush in his mouth. The way he was looking at her had her blushing.

"I want a sleepover!" the seven year old shouted, throwing himself into Emily's lap.

Tickling his sides, the lawyer had Jack laughing in the bed sheets. "Oh you want a sleepover?" she taunted, leaning down and peppering kisses to his cheeks. "You want a sleepover?"

Aaron smiled at the two from his place in the bathroom doorway, watching Emily throw her head back as Jack tried to tickle her. "Careful there." Gesturing to the younger woman's scar. "You're still healing."

"So are you," she shot back, smiling gently when his eyes met hers. "We can be careful together. As long as you don't go getting shot by any of my other exes," the lawyer chuckled to herself.

Shaking his head at the two laughing at him from the bed, Aaron pointed to the brunette with his toothbrush. "And you don't go falling in every city street."

Emily narrowed her eyes at the smile Aaron painted on his face. "Touché."


End file.
